Dismal Angel Episode 2: Slight Return
by AngelExposed
Summary: After almost a month of being comatose, Rogue comes to. Kurt and Kitty begin to worry when Rogue's powers begin manifest themselves like that of Miss Marvel- (Sequel to
1. Chapter 1: Glass

Chapter 1: Glass

            Kurt Wagner was distant during his science class, distantly glancing out of the window, tapping a pencil upon his bottom teeth absently, he couldn't concentrate, his mind wandering elsewhere.  He heard his teacher call his name, and ask a question he only heard the last half of.  He made a wild guess to the answer, luckily being right – he kicked himself mentally for not having paid attention, and yet, still his thoughts drifted away from school work, to more pressing matters.

            It had been almost a month since the incident at the Mansion – two mutants associated with Magneto, Gambit and Miss Marvel had passed the alarm systems, destroyed all of the computers in the War Room, and then had tried to abduct Rogue.  Miss Marvel still lay in a coma in the hospital wing of the Mansion – unfortunately, so did Rogue.

            He'd been distracted lately, couldn't think about anything else but Rogue – could he have done more?  He regretted having not been fast enough to try and save her before she and Miss Marvel had fallen from the sky.  He wondered if he had acted upon her plead for help, would she be in a coma at this very moment?  

            Kurt looked down at the desk, and distantly pressed his pencil down into the wood, denting it.  Things had not been the same at the Mansion – even School hadn't been the same.  His grades were falling, he couldn't help but blame himself for Rogue's condition, he would be up all night thinking about it, and when he wasn't, he would dream of it.  The others tried to act like nothing had ever changed – but there was an emptiness in the Mansion, the lack of Rogue's sarcastic comments, the lack of loud death music shaking the building.  

            "Kurt, are you paying attention?" his teacher requested of him.

            "Yes, sorry…" he pulled himself together, and tried to focus, he could feel the eyes of the other students on him, he felt so out in the open, usually he'd be sitting there in science class beside Rogue.  He felt so alone without her there.

            The teacher finished talking, and left the students to write about the subjects she'd spoken of.  Kurt doodled in his workbook, still finding it difficult to concentrate, behind him, he could hear whispers.

            "What ever happened to that freak with the streak?" one of the voices behind him whispered.

            "I don't know, I heard she killed herself," another voice chimed in.

            Kurt clenched his fist and spun around looking at them, they took no notice of him, sitting at the bench, huddled together, whispering about the whereabouts of Rogue.

            "Wouldn't be surprised, she'd be doing us all a favour," one of the others – a pretty blonde – stated.

            Kurt hurried over, "for your information, she's not dead, she's ill!" he retorted, anger growing.

            "Yeah, mentally ill," a dark haired boy remarked.

            Kurt could not control himself, he grabbed the boy by the collar, and pulled him so close, "take that back!"

            "Kurt Wagner!" he heard the teacher gasp.

            Kurt looked over his shoulder, he saw the teacher with her arms folded, she didn't look happy, "sorry…" he muttered, he let go of the boy's collar.

            "Detention after school, Kurt," the teacher stated, and then went back to her desk.

            Kurt uttered a swear word under his breath, this wasn't his day.

            Lunch time was straight after science class, and Kurt's mood had not improved, he went to sit with his friends at the table they always Sat at, Scott with his arm around Jean, Evan trying to fix a strap on his skateboarding helmet and Kitty, picking at a salad.  

            "Hi Kurt," Kitty glanced up at him, it was clear by the expression on his face that he was angry. "You look pissed," 

            "I got detention after school," he growled, he sat down, placing his lunch tray down.

            "What did you do?"

            "Almost started a fight," Kurt stated, and this was all he was willing to talk about.

            The others all looked at each other.  It was no secret that Kurt had not been the same since Rogue had fallen into the Coma, he'd spend hours keeping vigil by her bed in the hospital wing, talking to her as if she were awake.  His grades were getting lower, and he wasn't sleeping at night, they could all see exhaustion in his face – even with the image inducer working on him at that moment, it did not hide the stress.

            "Kurt, did you not sleep again last night?" Jean asked.

            "I slept a little," he lied, taking a small bite of his macaroni and cheese.

            "You look tired," Scott admitted.

            "Please drop it, I'm fine," Kurt pushed his food away, not hungry.

            "Kurt, we're not just going to sit back and watch you keep torturing yourself about Rogue…" Scott stated.

            "I said drop it already!" Kurt snarled.  Their eyes all widened, it wasn't like Kurt to get angry at his friends.  "Just stop treating me like I'm glass – I won't break," he uttered, and without another word, he teleported out of sight in a split second.

            "He might not break, but I definitely think his glass has definitely CRACKED," Evan rolled his eyes.

            "Hope no one saw that…" Kitty looked around, "people here are paranoid as it is about mutants."

            Jean ran her fingers through her silken red hair, "I guess we can't blame him for being upset," she admitted, and leaned forward on the table, "since he found out about Mystique having adopted Rogue, he feels as if they're siblings, a bond…"

            "I remember he said that just before this whole thing," Evan admitted. 

            "Has there been no change in Rogue's condition?" Kitty asked.

            Jean propped her chin on her hand, elbow on the table, "Rogue's condition hasn't changed, she might not seem to be getting better but she certainly isn't getting worse…" 

            Kitty sighed, "this whole thing is so depressing…nothing is the same lately."

Scott gave a solemn nod, and pushed his glasses up his nose a little.  "I know what you mean, Kitty…I know what you mean."

            Kurt got home later than everyone else that day – because of detention.  When he arrived in the doors of the mansion, he heard Professor Xavier's voice in his head, asking him to come see him immediately.  Kurt had a horrible feeling his teacher had called Professor Xavier about the behaviour in class today.

            He headed into Professor Xavier's office, the Professor behind his desk, fingers twined together, pressed on the desk, "Kurt, have a seat…" he offered.

            Kurt walked over to the leather chair Professor Xavier was gesturing to, and he sat down slowly, carefully, keeping his eyes on the Professor, "am I in trouble?" he asked nervously.

            "Principle Kelly telephoned me today," Professor Xavier explained sombrely.

            "Oh…" Kurt looked down at the desk, trying to avoid eye contact with the professor. 

            "He tells me your grades are slipping, Kurt.  Three of your teachers complain about you not paying attention in class, and today one of your teachers – Mrs Prachett – complained that you were fighting in Science class…" 

            Kurt looked up at the Professor, "I did not fight anyone in Science class!" he gasped in shock, "some kids made rude remarks about Rogue, and I grabbed one of the guys by the collar, I didn't hit anyone…"

            "Kurt, you know better than that," Professor Xavier looked at him, "and if you do not keep your grades up and behave better in class they will dismiss you from school for good…is this what you want?"

            "No…"

            "Then please, pull yourself together…"

            Kurt looked down, trying to not cry, he did not want to let Professor Xavier see him in such a state.

            "Kurt, I know you're upset about Rogue…we ALL are, but no matter what goes on around us, no matter the circumstances we live in or the pain we must endure every day – we must continue to live life as we would any other normal day.  Rogue would not want you grieving for her as if she were dead," Professor Xavier pointed out.

            "I know that, Professor…" Kurt looked at him, "But I can't get my mind off of it…I try hard, I try to do good in School, I try to sleep at night, but it doesn't work."

            There was an uncomfortable silence between them, they looked at each other, the only sounds were the ticking of an old clock on the mantle across the room, and the sound of some laughter outside near the basketball court.  It remained this way for some moments.

            "You still feel guilty," Professor Xavier finally stated. 

            "Yes…" Kurt swallowed, and blinked back tears, "I do…I didn't help her, I should have."

"Kurt…we have been through this several times now…" Professor Xavier used a comforting voice and leaned forward a little, still keeping his eyes on Kurt's eyes, hoping that if he could look him straight in the eyes, Kurt would somehow know everything was alright.

"I know we have!" Kurt stood up, he threw his hands up in the air in frustration, "I've heard it so many times from everyone that I have it memorised in my head!  I'm sick of people telling me it'll be alright, and that it wasn't my fault…trying to drill it into my head about it again and again does not make it any easier to cope with!"  he walked over to the door, and stood there, looking at the Professor, "no matter what anyone tells me I know this is my fault, and I have to live with it for the rest of my life…" he blinked back more tears, he put his hand on the doorknob, ready to leave, but he stopped, when Professor Xavier's desktop communicator went off.

"Professor…" it was Hank's voice.

Professor Xavier pressed the talk button, "Yes, Hank?"

And then the reply, as sweet as a bird singing, or like having been told you've won the lottery – the best news on earth, "Rogue has come to." 

  
 


	2. Chapter 2: Brain Dead

**Chapter 2: Brain Dead**

        Kurt teleported himself – and the professor – down to the hospital wing before anything else could be decided, the news that Rogue had come to was the best thing he'd heard in his life, he felt as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, guilt still remained, but not as strongly as it had before.

        As he teleported into the hospital wing, Rogue was the first thing he saw, sitting up in bed, her hair mussed, her eyes dark underneath, but she was awake.  Propped up against the pillows with a confused look on her face, not a spot of makeup to conceal her pretty features.  

        "Rogue!" Kurt rushed over, he tried to hug her, but she jerked quickly out of the way, he looked at her confused.

        "Don't…" she pushed him away a little, her gloves were already on, he noted.

        "I was only trying to hug you…" he said, feeling slightly dejected.

        "I know what you were trying to do – but I don't do hugs," she stated, as if this was something he perhaps should have always known. 

        He recovered quickly from this slight rejection.  "I'm so glad to see you're finally awake," he admitted, he sat on the edge of the bed, he was grinning from ear to ear, just to see her sitting there looking at him in that confused and disgusted way she always did.

        "Finally?" Rogue asked softly, her voice full of bewilderment.

        "How do you feel, Rogue?" Professor Xavier wheeled over.  He looked at her with much concern, something about the look on his face indicated he was searching in her thoughts.

        "I have a headache…just feels like I've slept for too long…" Rogue rubbed her forehead a little, blinking tiredly.

        "I'll say," Kurt commented, keeping his eyes on her, he could see her reaction – filled with even more perplexity than before.  It seemed she didn't even have any idea of why she was there or how much time had passed since she'd fallen unconscious.

        "What do you mean?" Rogue sat forward a little, looking at Kurt. 

        "I mean you've been unconscious for almost a month," Kurt stated.

        "I have?" Rogue looked at them all, in shock.

        "Don't worry, temporary amnesia is common after having been unconscious," Hank assured, then he looked at Professor Xavier, "Professor, can I have a word with you?" he asked quietly, he headed towards the door.

        "Of course," Professor Xavier nodded, and followed Hank out of the room, leaving Kurt and Rogue to catch up.  

        Rogue kept her eyes on Kurt's face, "I've been out cold for almost a month?" she asked, again, as if she couldn't come to grips with this at all.

        "Don't you remember what happened?" Kurt asked, he raised an eyebrow.

        "Not really…" Rogue tucked her hair behind her ears and looked at him, "I can't remember the last thing I did…"

        "Well…uhm…" Kurt looked at her, "me and you were alone in the mansion, and two mutants broke in, Gambit and Miss Marvel…" Kurt answered.

        "Who…?" Rogue asked curiously.

        Kurt motioned to the other bed a few feet away from Rogue's, where Miss Marvel, an attractive blonde, lay unconscious.

        Rogue looked at her, and climbed out of bed slowly, she wanted to be nearer, but she wasn't prepared for the weak feeling in her legs, she felt so drained, she almost fell straight away, Kurt caught her.

        "Rogue, you should rest…" Kurt said worriedly, he pulled her arm around his shoulders carefully, trying to avoid any skin contact.

        "Why am I so weak?" she asked.

        "You've been unconscious, you haven't used your legs in a while…" Kurt said, "it's normal, you'll be alright," he assured, "Come on, get back into bed," he pleaded, he felt such worry, and his mind was still guilt ridden. 

        Rogue looked at Miss Marvel, laying on the bed nearby, so peaceful as if she were only napping, not unconscious.  "She…she's so familiar…" Rogue's lip trembled, she felt as if she'd known the girl all her life, and yet, she could not remember one instance where she'd ever seen her.

        "You absorbed her powers," Kurt led Rogue back to the bed, "and when you did, you both fell into a coma," he added.

        Rogue kept her eyes on Miss Marvel even while Kurt was helping her back into the bed, "I don't understand…" her voice quivered, the things he'd just spoke of she could not remember – and this was terrifying.  
        "Don't worry, it'll all be explained earlier…" Kurt assured, "would you like me to get you something?" He asked.

        "I wouldn't mind something to eat, I'm starving," Rogue stated.

        "I guess you would be, having been fed through a tube for the last three and a half weeks," Kurt smiled, "What would you like?  I can order you a pizza…" he offered.

        "Uhm…that'd be fine," Rogue smiled nervously.

        "Great," Kurt grinned, and instead of teleporting out of there, like he usually did, he decided he'd be civil and leave the room as normal people did – he left the hospital wing and went down the hall, just as he turned the corner, he could hear Professor Xavier and Hank talking.

        "She seems to have no recollection whatsoever of the fight," Hank was explaining in a grim tone, he was holding a clipboard, and a pencil, "Meanwhile, tests on Miss Marvel indicate she is quite brain dead."

        Kurt turned back down the corner, to listen.

        "I've been afraid of that for some time, I've been trying to telepathically reach her, only to come up with nothing, blankness, as if her entire psyche has gone completely…as if there is nothing left of her," Professor Xavier sighed.

        "Do you think Rogue has really absorbed the whole of Miss Marvel's mind into her own?" Hank queried.

        "I had been thinking of this, but every time I try to reach Rogue, I sense nothing but her own presence…so this poses the question of what happened to Miss Marvel?" Professor Xavier had his hands in his lap, he remained composed.  

        Hank handed him the clipboard – with a medical report on it.  "Professor, another thing concerns me…something is happening…to Rogue," he admitted.

        "What exactly?" Professor Xavier looked over the medical reports quickly.

        "Over the last week, its become increasingly difficult to pierce her skin for any blood tests, or to hook her up to the IV…" Hank admitted, "I blunted 4 brand new needles."

        "Any clue as to what could be the cause?"

        "I'm unsure at this stage if this may be part of her mutation or not, her skin holds the key to her powers – perhaps its linked, but I would need to run more tests."

        "Avoid running any tests over the next few days.  Let her rest, and get adjusted again…it's been a while."

        "Of course," Hank nodded.  "In the meantime, might I suggest it may be time to move Miss Marvel to Bayville hospital…" he stated, "her condition is not improving, and with no brain activity it seems doubtful she will improve…"

        "I understand," Professor Xavier sighed, "I feel helpless regarding Miss Marvel…who she was is such a mystery, I cannot dig any information out from her mind – there is nothing there," Professor Xavier despaired.

        Kurt pressed his back tight against the wall, listening, so it seemed in fact Miss Marvel was brain dead?   He wondered the same thing that Professor Xavier had – what had happened to the persona of Miss Marvel?  Had she just vanished?  

        He blinked himself out of the hallway before he could be caught eavesdropping, and appeared in the kitchen, behind the open refrigerator door, Kitty Pryde was raking inside the fridge for anything diet, she pulled out a diet soda, and closed the refrigerator door – seeing Kurt there, who had not been there prior to her opening the fridge, she gasped in fright.

        "Kurt!" she dropped the soda, it landed on the floor with a clank, luckily did not explode.

        "Sorry," he laughed a little.

        "It's not funny," Kitty pouted prettily, but then raised an eyebrow, "Hey, I haven't heard you laugh in a while – what's up?"

        "Rogue just came out of the coma," he said, "I'm going to order her pizza."

        Kitty's stomach gave a loud audible growl at the sound of Pizza being mentioned, she blushed.

Kurt looked at her, "when are you going to give up that diet?" he asked, he flicked through a pile of menus from the local pizza, Chinese and Indian take away restaurants in the area.

        "When I'm not flabby," Kitty remarked, "I heard some guys make comments about my fat ass at School."

        "You don't have a fat behind," Kurt avoided saying 'ass'.  He'd never really liked the word, and he didn't really believe Kitty had much of an ass at all – she was too thin to have that kind of backside padding.

        "Oh come ON, I heard them calling me J-Lo!" Kitty rolled her eyes, "Of course I do."

        Kurt rolled his eyes as well, "Your constitution will fall."

        "No it won't," Kitty shook her head in disbelief, "how is Rogue?"

        "She can't remember anything," Kurt sighed, "which is kind of worrying I guess…but that's not even the worst part…"

"There's a worst part?" Kitty leaned against the kitchen counter casually.

"Miss Marvel is brain dead…" 

"Wow…what does that mean?" Kitty asked.

"It means she's not showing any signs of brain activity…" Kurt remarked.

"No, not that!  I'm not a dumbass," Kitty rolled her eyes, "I mean what does it _MEAN_," she tried to get across.

"Oh…uhm…I'm not too sure, I overheard the Professor and Beast talking – they don't know if Rogue really did absorb the whole mind of Miss Marvel or not – the professor can't sense Miss Marvel in Rogue's head…" Kurt grabbed the menu from the nearest Pizza delivery service – they had the best pizza's. 

"That's kinda worrying isn't it?" 

"I'm not sure what to make of it, really," Kurt stated, he scanned through the menu "What's Rogue's favourite Pizza?" he asked curiously, he could never remember such things as favourite things, and birthdays, and other various things.

        "Uhm…I think Spicy chicken and sweetcorn," Kitty remarked, "with garlic," she could feel her own mouth watering at the thought of Pizza.  She'd been eating salads and boiled chicken for so long it felt like she'd throw up if she seen anymore of the diet foods.

        "Do you want anything?" Kurt picked up the phone from the wall.

        "No, I'm on a diet…"

        "Come on…I'll split a sixteen inch Pepperoni Pizza with you," he offered.

        "I…uhm…no thanks…"

        "Fine, I'll have it all to myself," Kurt grinned, and dialled the number.

        Kitty pouted, and left the kitchen, and headed towards the hospital wing intent on visiting Rogue.  Rogue was alone in the hospital wing when Kitty arrived, she was surprised that Professor Xavier or Hank McCoy were not there watching over her.

        Rogue was propped up by the pillows, her eyes closed, head hanging slightly to the side.  

        "Hi," Kitty said, she walked over slowly, her arms folded a little insecurely.  She never was good at making conversation with Rogue, she wasn't sure what she'd say, but it was only polite that she visit the girl now that she was awake. 

        Rogue opened her eyes, and turned towards Kitty, "Hi…" she looked at Kitty, Kitty looked different, she almost couldn't place it, her face looked a little more drawn and paler than usual, but otherwise she looked fine.  Rogue felt it had been forever since she'd seen the girl, yet, to her, it might as well have been yesterday.  

        "How are you feeling?" Kitty asked.

        "Lousy," Rogue sat up a little more, she looked at Kitty, "they told me I've been out cold for almost a month…it feels so strange…I've missed like a huge chunk of life."

        "It's not that huge…"

        "I've more than likely fallen way behind in school," Rogue sighed.

        "Don't worry," Kitty assured, "your teachers have passed all your school work onto me and Kurt for you…"

        "Wonderful, a back log of homework," Rogue made a face.

        "I'll help…if you like…"

        "It doesn't matter," Rogue decided, she felt she'd some how worm her way out of it all completely.

        "Do you have to stay in bed over the next few days?" Kitty asked.

        "Unfortunately…" Rogue made a face, "but tonight I'll be able to be moved back into our room," she stated, "Hank told me that before he and Professor Xavier left…"

        "Where's Miss Marvel?" Rogue suddenly realised.

        "They were taking her to a hospital…I guess they're gonna put her somewhere she can be taken care of full time…" Rogue stated.

        "Oh…" Kitty remarked.  "I guess she's not going to recover then?"

        "Doesn't seem like it," Rogue looked away, becoming dewy eyed, "and it's my fault."


	3. Chapter 3: Adjusting

Chapter 3: Adjusting

            It was almost a week until Rogue fully recovered from being unconscious, still finding herself tired, but able to get around more and the headaches had begun to dwindle away almost completely.  And soon, she was back at school, with Professor Xavier and Kitty's help, she was slowly catching up with the backlog of school work.  It did not take time to adjust back to being at school – even when being way behind with school work.

            She pretended not to hear the kids at school - their cruel whispers would echo up and down the hallways, and distantly in classrooms.  She'd hear their jokes and she'd open her locker to find a Barbie doll dressed up like herself with it's hair cut and coloured over with a brown permanent marker and white out.  It would be hanging from a noose made from a shoelace. 

            In fact, upon her return, her locker had been completely vandalised – black permanent marker everywhere, cruel and hateful words scrawled crudely upon the door.  She'd been assigned a new locker, but now was getting the hate notes posted through the slots, "die mutant die" written upon them.

            It was only over a week later that Rogue and Kitty Pryde found themselves in the girls locker room at school getting ready for gym class.  Most of the other girls avoided them completely and would get ready as quickly as possible to avoid having to associate with mutants – leaving the two fifteen year old girls totally alone in the locker room.

            Rogue pulled on a pair of skin tight leggings and a black T-shirt over a tight fishnet shirt she'd already been wearing.  Kitty, trying to be trendy, opted for one of those tiny matching shorts and cropped top sets, Rogue glanced over at Kitty, watching as she pulled on her sneakers.  "Have you lost weight?" She queried, it was only now that she could see the girl seemed a lot thinner than usual, no wonder her face had seemed so gaunt.

            "Hopefully," Kitty responded, she pulled on her other sneaker.

            "You look like a stick," Rogue retorted, and tied her hair back from her face with a black scrunchie. 

            "I don't know if that's a compliment or an insult," Kitty looked at her.

            "It's not healthy," Rogue stated matter-of-factly.  "Next you'll be bleaching your hair that same platinum blonde that every other airhead at this school has," she added with a mutter.

            Kitty bit her tongue, and smiled a bit, at least it seemed Rogue was back to herself, the same sarcastic comment making girl she always had been.  Kitty knew it was just a defence mechanism, and felt that if Rogue could be one of those platinum anorexic blonde airheads at School, she probably would. 

"Are you still getting the hate-mail?" Kitty asked casually.

"Yup, and it's not going away any," she sighed, "I reported it to Principle Kelly, he didn't seem to care, quite frankly," she added. 

"Wouldn't be surprised if he didn't care," Kitty braided her hair quickly and precisely.  "He's totally anti-mutant, he has no time for any mutant in this school, he practically gushes over every 'normal' student though," she muttered, "about two weeks ago some kids started a fight with Kurt in class – Kurt got blamed for it AND got detention."

"Really?" Rogue asked.

"Yeah, he'd take the word of a normal human over a mutant any day," Kitty sighed.  "Are you ready or what?" she asked as she put her bag into a locker and locked it securely.

            "Just about…" Rogue commented, "go on without me, I'll be there in a minute."

            "Alright," Kitty nodded, and headed off.

            Rogue pulled her gloves on slowly, and strapped them at the wrist just to make sure they'd stay on, she thought distantly about all that had happened this past week, with recovering, and her first few days back at School.  She felt as if things were returning to normal – yet, she felt as if something were different, something she couldn't really explain.

            She knelt down to zip her backpack up, and she tossed it into a locker, and shut it, she turned, a reflection off of a dull mirror caught her eye, she had seen it from the corner of her eyes, but when she turned, the only reflection she saw there was her own pale reflection, her makeup perfect, her eyes tired, her hair pulled back tightly a ponytail.  

            Rogue looked around in every direction, "Hello?" she asked aloud, "anyone in here?"

            No reply, no sound, except from her own breathing and the sounds from the gym hall nearby, of a basketball being bounced around.

            "You're going crazy," she muttered to herself, and headed for the gym.

            Rogue despaired when she arrived in the gym hall seeing Basketball was the chosen sport of today.  She didn't feel like jumping around trying to throw a ball into a hoop, it was too physical, and physical was what she hated – all the people crowding around, she didn't like the thought there might be a chance someone else could get hurt.  She had asked if she could sit out, but her gym teacher was having none of it.

            She was glad at least to find out she had been picked to go in the same team Kurt and Kitty were both in, it made it somewhat easier.  When the game began, she felt herself relaxing, and beginning to enjoy it.  Rogue was a very athletic girl, and was good at many sports – but she excelled today in basketball – she'd never been so good at it before.  

            Kitty and Kurt could only gape as Rogue used tactics she'd never used before, weaving in and out of the opposition with eerie precision, she passed the ball without stopping to wonder who she'd pass too, she worked purely on instinct like she never had before.  The team scored several times, and the opposition didn't seem to have a chance.

            When they stopped for a five minute break to cool down, Kitty walked over to Kurt, "can you like, believe Rogue?" she gasped for breath, she leaned forward a little, holding onto her thighs, perspiration dotting her forehead, "I can barely keep up."

            "Tell me about it, I knew she was athletic, but this…" Kurt stated, a little concerned, he could feel his fur becoming clammy, yet with his image inducer working at full, it didn't show, he barely looked out of breath.  

            "I've never seen her so good at Basketball," Kitty took a deep breath, she sat down on a bench, leaning back against the cold brick wall behind it, "seriously, I cannot keep up, and I thought Jean was good – she'd give her a run for her money."

            "That'd be an interesting game, Rogue and Jean, one on one," Kurt smirked, "Jean's good at basketball, Jean's good at almost every sport," Kurt remarked.  "It'd be like a death match between them," he laughed, but through the laughter, his thoughts were glued to the fact that Rogue was showing characteristics that weren't generally matched to how she was.  

            Kurt and Kitty watched as Rogue tried to talk to some of the other students in their team, and they more or less shunned her, acted as if she was not even there, they felt so bad for her, there was Rogue putting in massive effort and not even being congratulated for it.

            Rogue walked over, sighing.

            "Something wrong?" Kurt asked of Rogue.

            "Yes, I've scored three times and the team are just totally ignoring me, I'm good enough to help the team win, but they're ignoring me now.  If I was a normal human they'd be gushing all over me thinking I was the greatest," she remarked bitterly.

            "Yeah, you're right about that," Kitty folded her arms, "two-faced jerks," she added.

            "You're doing really good out there," Kurt admitted, "I've never seen you play so well…"

            "Yeah, I don't understand it either," Rogue said, "I don't play Basketball all that often, I don't know how I could all of a sudden be so good…" she gave a shrug. 

            After the break was up, the teams began their game again, Rogue's energy was boundless, she dodged opponents, dribbling the ball at her side, and through her legs, moves that most professional basketball players would have envied.  

When the opportunity came for Rogue to score, she went for it and she leapt into the air and tossed the ball into the hoop.  What surprised Kitty and Kurt was how precisely she leapt – almost as if she'd been floating for a few seconds, and when she threw the ball into the hoop, she did it with such strength she'd never seemed to have before.  

            In fact…it brought down the hoop…quite literally.

            There was a loud crash as the hoop fell to the hard wood floor, Rogue jumped back, her mouth dropping.  Everyone – including the teacher – fell silent, and the ball bounced past, making the only noise.

            Kurt whispered to Kitty, "did you see that…?"

            "I think I did…what did you see?" Kitty whispered back, leaning slightly to the side.

            "I just saw Rogue trash the basketball net…"

            "Yeah…I saw that too," Kitty mumbled.

            Rogue looked at the teacher, "I…"

            "It must have been loose…" the teacher stated, she glanced at her watch, "well…it's a bit early, but you guys can go get changed and head off for lunch…I better get this seen to…"

            Rogue felt a surge of relief run through her, glad she wouldn't be blamed.  But she knew she'd been the cause, she knew she'd thrown the ball far too hard.  Question was, how could she have broken the basketball hoop when she herself was not particularly that strong. 

            Rogue walked over to Kurt and Kitty, "did you guys see that?" she queried timidly.

            "Yeah, we like, saw you trashed the net," Kitty remarked, "how in the world did you do that?"

            "I don't know," Rogue chewed her lip.

            "Mutant freak," muttered one of the girl students as she passed by Rogue.

            Rogue frowned, "bitch," she muttered.

            Kitty looked at Rogue, "Rogue, are you like, okay?" she asked.

            "Never better," Rogue muttered sarcastically, "I wish for one minute these damn preppy girls would get off my back…" she muttered, "Just because I'm not a 'sheep' like them they assume I'm like a lamb to the slaughter," she rolled her eyes.

            "They used to do that with me too," Kitty remarked.

            "Yeah, but since I came here, now I'm the brunt of all the mutant jokes, and now they're calling me crazy too," Rogue sighed.

"When you were gone so long they assumed you'd killed yourself or something," Kurt admitted.

"I guess that's why I received a Barbie doll hanging from a noose in my locker when I returned back to school," Rogue commented coldly.

"Nope, that means they want to lynch you," Kitty chewed her lip, "Just ignore them, they're all jerks."

"Jerks who are making my life a living hell," Rogue sighed.

"Cheater," remarked one of the male students as he passed Rogue.

Rogue spun around, "what the hell do you mean by that?!" she demanded.

"You used your powers and you know it!" another one of the male students muttered, and disappeared out the door.

Rogue clenched her fists, she wanted to after him and kick him up the backside for making such a remark, "How dare he insinuate that," she frowned.

Kurt looked down, he wondered the same thing, somehow he knew a human could have never played the way Rogue had played the game, not thrown the ball so hard it would knock the net off the wall, he could see the brackets it had been held up by had been completely snapped.

"Just ignore him, Rogue," Kitty rolled her eyes, "those guys are all jerks…"

"Jerks who are making my life a living hell," Rogue sighed, and headed towards the locker room, hugging herself as she walked.

            When she was out of earshot Kurt and Kitty looked at each other, but said nothing, their expressions said everything to each other that they needed to – and that was that Rogue might not be as recovered as they'd thought. 


	4. Chapter 4: High

Chapter 4: High

            It was late that same night – or early the next morning depending on what way you might have looked at it – that Kitty Pryde awoke from slumber, her stomach grumbling madly.  She rolled over and tried to ignore it, but persistently the monster in her belly seemed to be trying to pop up and say 'hey, I'm hungry'.  

            She switched the little desk lamp next to her bed on, and she turned it towards the wall to make sure the light wouldn't wake up Rogue – whom she shared a room with.  The last thing she needed was to wake up Rogue at 3am, Rogue always got so angry about things like that.  Kitty took a quick glance at the clock, threw the covers off, stepped into her furry slippers, and stood slowly, tiptoeing.  

Rogue was asleep soundly on the other side of the room, her covers half thrown off, her makeup smeared, the girl even slept with her makeup on, Kitty always found this odd about Rogue, but never questioned it anymore – Rogue got defensive about such things.

The whole Mansion was quiet, not a soul awake save herself, she was as quiet as she could be, creeping in the dark, and instead of opening the kitchen door, she simply phased herself through it.  She switched on the kitchen light, taking a quick glance around, everything in place, tidy.  She knew when everyone awoke for School the kitchen would be a disaster zone.  

            She fixed herself something to eat – a simple salad – and she sat quietly in the kitchen, eating her food, drinking a Diet soda, and thinking to herself.  She found herself thinking about this afternoon, with Rogue's extraordinary strength at basketball.  She was worried perhaps some part of Miss Marvel had somehow remained with Rogue, despite having been in a coma for almost four weeks.

            Kitty shook off the feeling, finished her salad, washed her plate and glass, disposed of the soda can, and headed back upstairs into her room.  

            Her first reaction was to go over to her bed, she would never understand why she chose to look around to check on Rogue again, but she did.

            The bed was empty, the covers half draping off the mattress.  For a moment Kitty contemplated maybe going to find her, to make sure she was alright, but decided to leave well alone.  

            Just as she was about to get back into her bed, almost from nowhere it seemed, Rogue fell from the sky, and onto the bed she'd been laying upon, there was a loud thwapping sound as she hit the mattress and feather pillow.

            Kitty, startled, jumped up, "what the—"

            Rogue seemed to be still peacefully sleeping, unaffected by falling.

            Kitty got up and walked over, "Rogue?" she asked, just to be sure, but Rogue gave no reply, remained sleeping silently.  Kitty watched a few moments, just confused, not sure exactly what had happened, it had almost been as if Rogue had just dropped from the sky – but that wasn't really possible, was it?

            _We're mutants though…it is,_ Kitty realised.  She was about to step away again, when something stopped her.

            Rogue was slowly raising into the air, as if being levitated, her arms dropped at her side as she drifted higher up.  Kitty gaped, she'd never seen Rogue do this before, and although she'd seen Rogue fly – as part of having used someone else's powers through her own – she'd never seen it quite like this.  Without no conscious realisation, she was levitating.

            "Rogue?" Kitty asked, she stepped back a little.

            Rogue did not stir, just continued to sour upwards, almost like a helium balloon, so smoothly and weightlessly towards the high ceiling.

            "Rogue!" Kitty screamed out loud.

            Rogue gave a gasp, and moved to sit in an upright position, banging her head hard on the ceiling, she made a noise of surprise, and she fell hard to the bed, Kitty heard one of the wooden slates under the mattress snap loudly under the sudden strain of having Rogue dropped onto the bed.  Rogue's arm flailed out and the lamp on her bedside cabinet caught her hand and fell over smashing loudly onto the wooden floorboards.

            "What the…" Rogue put her hand to her head, squeezing her tired eyes together tightly.

            Kitty chewed her lip, "sorry, are you alright?" she asked.

            Rogue looked around, then looked up, she could remember banging her head on something, "what did I bang my head on…"

            "The ceiling…" Kitty stated.

            "What?!" Rogue asked.

            "You banged your head on the ceiling…"

            A puff of greyish-black smoke appeared with a poofing sound, and followed Kurt Wagner in his Pyjamas, "I heard a noise!" he was holding a baseball bat, he looked dishevelled, his hair matted and hanging to one side, his fur a little mussed, and half asleep, he'd been startled by the noise.

            "Kurt!" Kitty grabbed the baseball bat off of him, "don't you know you're meant to knock on the door before entering a girls room," She smacked him in the backside playfully – but lightly – with the bat.

            "What happened?" Kurt noted the lamp.

            "I…I don't know," Rogue knelt on the bed, "Ow, my head," she winced at the pain.

            "Rogue was like…levitating…" Kitty pointed up to the ceiling, "she bumped her head."

            "Levitating?" Kurt asked, "I did not know you could do that."

            "Neither did I…" Rogue looked up at the ceiling curiously, "Maybe it was Jean's telekinetic powers absently moving me in her sleep?"

            "No way, Jean needs to concentrate hard to move things with her mind, its not something that happens accidentally – not recently anyway, she's got more control over it now," Kitty folded her arms.

            Kurt took his bat back from Kitty, "Maybe we should wake the professor…"

            "No…" Rogue pleaded, "Please, I don't want him starting tests on me again…if he knows about this…" Rogue looked afraid.

            Kurt and Kitty both looked at Rogue, both concerned, but with all that she was dealing with lately, they did not want to put her under any more strain.  

            "I…." Kurt tried, but finally gave in, "Alright…but if it happens again…"

            "It won't," Rogue tried to assure, "Kurt, please, it's late, I'm tired, we have school…" she wanted rid of him, she didn't want to talk about this anymore.

            Kurt gave a sigh and rubbed the back of his neck absently, "I still think you shouldn't be ignoring the problem," he shook his head.

            "I appreciate the concern but—"

            "But what?" Kurt looked at her, expectantly.

            "I'll—" Rogue was about to speak.

            "Yes, I know, you'll 'deal' with it, just in the way you 'deal' with everything else," Kurt looked at her, "why you just won't swallow your pride for once and let us help you, I'll never know…" He rolled his eyes, getting quite upset with her.  He'd spent the last month holding a vigil by her side, and trying to be there for her even after school all this week, now she was trying to isolate herself again.  He didn't want to see it happen.

            "It's not to do with pride!" Rogue yelled.

            "Sssh!" Kitty threw her a look.

            "Sorry, but I've had it up to here with this," Rogue rubbed her bruising head. 

            "Don't you think we have?!" Kurt demanded, his voice raising, Kitty swatted him.

            "Quiet! You'll wake the whole mansion!" Kitty hissed.

            Kurt ignored her words, "I've put up with as much of this as you have, Rogue!  I try to be there for you whenever, I can, I help you with all your class work, even when I don't have to, I sat beside your bed when you were comatose, I've tried to be nothing but a good brother to you—"

            Rogue looked at him, her eyes widening, she couldn't believe he was yelling at her.  She stood up, her eyes blazing with anger, "You're not my brother!" she spat at him.

            "Yes I am!  We have the same mother!"

            "She was only my adopted mother!  And we've already been through this!" Rogue walked away over to the window, turning her back to Kurt and Kitty, she folded her arms stubbornly.  "And back to this thing with the levitating,  It's probably just a fluke," Rogue tried desperately to make him drop it.

            "Maybe," Kitty sighed, she sat on her own bed, "but I think you should get it checked out anyway, you've just come out of a coma after having rendered another mutant brain dead for maybe the rest of her life – don't you think there's a slight chance you might have absorbed more of her powers than you usually do?  Kurt said she could fly…"

            "And she was really strong," Kurt added, "and you broke the basketball hoop at School, there's no way you could have done that before."

            "It's quarter to four in the morning, can you guys just leave me alone so I can get to sleep?" Rogue looked over her shoulder at them both.

            "Fine," Kurt sighed, "But I'll talk to you in the morning about it," He added, "don't think I'm going to drop this."

            "It's not your problem, it's mines!" Rogue yelled as he was heading towards the door.

            "You're family, that makes it my problem," Kurt remarked coldly, almost as cold as she always spoke towards him.  He closed the door behind himself, and was gone. 

            Rogue headed towards her bed and threw herself down on it, "God, could things GET any worse?"

            "Yes, they could," Kitty muttered, "you could have woken up the whole Mansion," she kicked off her slippers, turned off the light and slipped under the covers, "you know you really hurt Kurt's feelings," she added.

            "Huh?" Rogue asked, she fixed the covers on her bed.

            "You hurt his feelings," Kitty rolled over so that she could see Rogue from where she lay, she could just make out Rogue's silhouette in the darkness, "you're the closest person to an actual blood relative that he has," she stated softly.

            "But I'm not blood…" Rogue fluffed her pillow, her voice was dripping with bitterness.

            "His mother raised you, Rogue, his mother didn't even raise him," Kitty reminded, "and you're damn lucky he doesn't resent you for the childhood he never got to have with Mystique," Kitty yawned.  
            Rogue realised Kitty may be right, and began to feel bad.

            "You don't have a real family, Rogue, why not just accept Kurt as a brother and have done with it," Kitty rolled back over and went back to sleep, leaving Rogue with her thoughts.


	5. Chapter 5: Shot in the Dark

Chapter 5: Shot in the Dark

            That next day, Rogue was exhausted, and endured all classes like a zombie, staring into space and occasionally dropping off to sleep momentarily.  Light-headed and limp-bodied, she felt as though she would sometimes pass out from the exhaustion weighing, and nodded off for almost fifteen minutes during lunch.  As lunchtime drew to a close, she headed to her locker, feeling frail, arms hanging by her side, she felt slightly off balance.  She wished it had been somehow easier to fall asleep after the fiasco with hitting the ceiling.

            Rogue finally approached her locker, and turned the combination lock and opened it, and reached in to search out a small notebook, her notes for her history class.  

            "Hey…"

            Rogue turned slightly to look over her shoulder, Kurt standing there, looking at her, he too looked tired, however he looked less tired than she felt.  "Hi…" she said softly, she kept her eyes on his for a moment, before turning back to the locker to find her notebook.

            "I…I'm sorry for getting angry with you," he admitted softly, he dug his toe into the tile floor, his eyes falling to his feet as he did. 

            Rogue stopped, and turned towards him, "forget about it…it was my fault…I…"

            Kurt kept his eyes on her, "How are you feeling?" He asked softly.

            "Tired…didn't sleep again," she sighed, she rubbed her forehead a little, then went back to looking for her notebook.

            "I know how that goes," Kurt admitted, "Never mind though, only two more classes before the end of the day…"  he put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her, Rogue looked over her shoulder at him, but did not flinch as she normally did.

            Rogue remained silent and continued to look for her book, Kurt squeezed her shoulder in a reassuring fashion and then let go.

            Kurt looked at her, "Something wrong?"

            "I can't find my history notes…"

            "You can use mines?" Kurt suggested.

            Rogue looked at him, "I…don't you need them?" she asked.

            "I study, unlike you," he teased.

            Rogue smirked a little, lightening up a little more than before.  She shoved one of her books that she'd pulled out back into the locker, as she did out of the corner of her eyes she saw a reflection on the mirror that she kept glued to the inside of the door on her locker, she didn't recognise it, she turned and looked towards the mirror  in the reflection she saw Blonde hair, and a familiar face – it did look like Miss Marvel.  She gasped, and jumped back, dropping her books, her eyes widened.

            "What is it?" Kurt caught her as she stumbled unsteadily backwards, tripping on her own foot, and almost falling completely.  

            "I…I…" Rogue looked around her, no blonde females in sight, how could she have seen such a reflection while looking in the mirror – it would have been her own reflection but no one else.  She walked back over the mirror and glanced into it, seeing her own reflection, her own pale face, and dark green eyes staring back at her – she could see hear own fear on her expression, her bottom lip was trembling.

            Kurt picked the books up from the floor, "what is it?" he asked again.

            "Nothing, I thought I saw a spider…" Rogue lied, she did not want to admit what she had seen, it would make her feel even crazier – especially after all that Kurt and Kitty had been trying to get her to admit that she may have absorbed all of Miss Marvel.  She didn't believe it were possible – but…she was starting to.  

            "But I thought you liked spiders…" Kurt looked at her curiously, he handed her the books.

            "Not all spiders," Rogue quickly grabbed the books and shoved them into her locker roughly, and slammed it shut, avoiding having to look at the mirror again.  "Lets go, we'll be late for class…" she urged.

            "Are you sure you're alright?" Kurt asked, he grabbed a hold of her arm before she could venture any further forward.

            "I'm fine," she pulled back, "will you stop treating me like glass, I'm not going to break…" she started walking towards the hallway leading to the History class.  She had made it almost around the corner, when a sharp pain in her head made her stop in her tracks, she grabbed her head, it felt like someone was trying to drill into her skull, the pain more intense than anything she had ever felt in her life.  She clenched her teeth and tried to pull herself together as it slowly began to dull down.

            "Rogue?" Kurt took a hold of Rogue's shoulders, "what's wrong?"

            "Nothing…I had a pain…in my head, but it's going away…" she tried to assure.

            Again, this time more persistently, the stabbing pain in her head, it hurt so bad her vision became blurred and the light became hard to focus upon, it hurt so bad she screamed, and felt herself lose her balance, and felt Kurt's hands catch her under her arms before she could fall to the floor.  A sudden screaming began to manifest itself in her head, at first it was almost distant, and it began to grow louder.   Vaguely she could hear Kurt's voice, but could not make out what he was saying, the noise of the screams drowning out everything else.   

            She gained focus with her eyes and on the reflection of a silver locker door, she could see the almost-seemingly distorted figure of Miss Marvel staring back at her, it looked as if she was smiling, 

            "You…" Rogue screamed, she looked at the lockers, she pushed Kurt out of her way, and stood firmly, glaring at the image of Miss Marvel.

            Kurt was confused, seeing no one there but Rogue, staring at a warped reflection of herself on a slightly dented silver locker door.  "Rogue?" he asked.

            "You took my life!" Miss Marvel's reflection spoke back to Rogue, Kurt watched, seeing Miss Marvel's voice coming out of Rogue's mouth, and he stepped back, slightly in shock.  He could feel the eyes of the students in the area on them both, watching, stopped in their tracks.

            Rogue looked at Miss Marvel, "I didn't take your life!" she screamed, tears beginning to stream down her face.

            "You took my life, and now I'm going to take yours…"

            "NO!" Rogue screamed, clenching her fists she headed straight for the locker, she rammed the underside of her fist into the locker, causing the door to dent badly in the process, she shrieked and cried and grabbed onto the metal door, tearing it off with a strength she'd never possessed before and threw it down to the floor, falling to her knees she began to pound her fists roughly into shiny surface, denting it until she no longer saw the reflection of Miss Marvel.

            "Someone get security!" one of the students shouted in the background.

            "Rogue!" Kurt grabbed onto one of Rogue's arms and tried to pull her away, "stop it!"

            Rogue jerked her arm away and pushed Kurt aside as if he weighed nothing, her roughness caused Kurt to fall over completely.  The shrieking in her head continued severely again, Rogue grabbed onto her head.  "Leave me alone!" she screamed at the voice in her head, feeling Miss Marvel's presence in her own almost stronger than her own.  She pulled herself to her feet and began to run, her direction unknown.  The pains in her head manifested again, feeling stronger and before, she felt as if her brain were being pierced, and the screams were drowning out the sounds, she kept running. 

            Kurt pulled himself up and followed, teleporting his way down the hall not caring if everyone saw him do so, "Rogue!" he cried at her.

            Someone had left their school bag filled with heavy books right in the middle of the floor, in Rogue's way, as she ran her foot caught on one of the straps and she felt herself tripping over, losing her balance, but instead of falling to the floor, she felt herself almost taking a leap into the air, and found herself sailing through the air towards a wall, she pushed her hands out in front of herself to try and stop herself from hitting the wall, and instead of slamming straight into the wall, she went straight through it, as if the wall were nothing else but rice paper.  

            Kurt watched in absolute shock as Rogue broke through a brick wall, leaving a massive hole, he continued running, trying to figure out how he was going to calm her down without having to fight her.

            "Kurt, what's going on?!" Kurt stopped, and turned, seeing Kitty coming around a nearby corner, she gaped at the hole in complete bewilderment.

            "Rogue has totally flipped, c'mon…" Kurt grabbed Kitty's hand and pulled her along.

            "We should get Jean," Kitty stopped him.

            "Why?"

            "Because Jean is telepathic…come on, she's in the girls restrooms, I just saw her," Kitty yanked Kurt the other way.

            Rogue sailed through the air, spinning, out of control, she crashed into a light post and knocked half of it to the ground, luckily killing no one in the process, she could hear Miss Marvel's voice in her head.

            "Stop fighting me!" Miss Marvel's voice screamed at her.

            Rogue tried to keep her thoughts in check, "Get out of my head!"

            "If I would I could!" Miss Marvel's voice screamed at her from her own mouth, "You ruined my life!"

            "I didn't mean to!" Rogue screamed, tears streaming down her face, blown dry by the wind as she soared through the air, "I swear I didn't mean to!"

            "That doesn't make things better!" Miss Marvel shrieked, Rogue felt herself losing control, she soon realised that Miss Marvel was gaining control of her body, she was soaring higher and higher, beginning to feel dizzy.

            Kitty ran into the girl's restrooms in time to see Jean putting on Lipstick, "Jean!" Kitty gasped, "Rogue is going crazy, we need you…"

            Jean Grey ditched her lipstick and followed Kitty, Kurt was outside in the hallway, they ran towards the end of the hallway, where the large hole was. "What happened?!"

            "I'll explain later, we need to find Rogue, she's in trouble," Kurt stated, he grabbed a hold of Kitty and Jean's arms and teleported the three of them into the school grounds outside, an area where Rogue was nearby.           

            "Oh my god, she really CAN fly!" Kitty gaped, looking up to the sky, seeing Rogue gaining altitude higher and higher, almost out of sight.

            Jean put her hands to her head and concentrated on Rogue's mind, "she's…she's not in control…Miss Marvel is in control of her…she's…she's going to try and suffocate her at a high altitude…" 

            "Stop them!"

            "I can't use my telekinesis from so far a distance…Rogue is moving too fast for me to catch up with her using my telekinetics to reach her…"

            Kurt grabbed a hold of Jean's arm, "hold onto me tight," he instructed, he felt her hand grab onto his arm, and he teleported, in steps up into the air, feeling unsafe and unsteady he continued, afraid Rogue – his adopted sister – may die.

            "Higher!" Jean held on tightly to Kurt, "I can almost reach her, Kurt, keep going."

            Kurt concentrated on going further up into the air by teleporting, "I feel dizzy!" he gasped for air.  "I don't know how much higher I can go!"

            "Hold on, it won't be much longer!" Jean gasped, feeling lack of oxygen begin to leave her Dizzy as well, fearing that they might not make it in time.

            On the ground Kitty dialled the phone number of the Mansion, and paced frantically as the number rung, she prayed someone was home, finally Logan's voice answered.

            "Hello?"

            "Logan, it's Kitty, come to the School, Rogue is in trouble…" Kitty said quickly without taking a breath.

            "With the Principle?" Logan asked in confusion.

            "No, Miss Marvel is taking over her body and trying to kill her or something!"

            "We'll be right there…" Logan promised, and then hung up.

            Kitty put her hands together, and prayed to God that Jean and Kurt would somehow make it in time to stop Rogue from suffocating at the high altitudes.

            Rogue spun through the air, she flew through thick clouds, coming out soaking wet and shivering, her head swimming, her lungs tightening, she tried to breath faster, but with Miss Marvel in control of her body it felt impossible, she prayed for help.

            _Rogue_, she heard a voice in her head, _it's alright_…         

            From the corner of her eye she could see Jean Grey and Kurt, teleporting through the air, she felt herself being pulled downwards suddenly.

            "NO!" Miss Marvel screamed in Rogue's voice.  "You can't stop me!"

            Jean pulled Rogue down further, "Fight her Rogue!" she cried loudly.

            Rogue closed her eyes, trying to maintain her thoughts and gain control of her own body, "I can't!" she screamed.

            "Yes you can!" Kurt called to her, "You can do it!"

            Rogue screamed loudly, trying to force everything out of her mind, flashes of memories came into her head, memories of happy childhood with loving parents, of winning child beauty pageants and being on the gymnastic team at school.  Memories of going to a school dance wearing a beautiful navy dress made of satin and shimmering with beads, and memories of standing with feet in the ocean whilst kissing a handsome dark eyed boy – who seemed so familiar – under a moonlit sky.  They were things she wanted to feel were hers, but they felt so unfamiliar to her, but she wanted them so bad, she wanted to believe she was remembering things of her own life.

            "We're losing her!" Jean felt the presence of Rogue beginning to fade.

            "Rogue, fight her!" Kurt yelled as loud as he could, "I believe in you!"

            Rogue tried to cancel out the memories of Miss Marvel, she thought of things she'd done in her life, the first time she put black lipstick on, the first time she met the X-men, the first time she touched another mutant and absorbed their power.  She concentrated on memories of when Kurt called her his sister, and when Kurt had been there for her even though she hadn't wanted him to.

            She looked out of the corner of her eyes, seeing Kurt look at her.  "Fight her!" he called out at her.

            "No!" Miss Marvel's voice screamed from Rogue's mouth, "She took my life!"

            Jean kept concentrating, the lower they came from the altitude they had been at the better their breaths returned.

            Rogue, beginning to gain control of her body, reached out to the distance to reach for Kurt's hand, "Help me…" she pleaded.

            Kurt teleported over, and grabbed a hold of her hand, still holding onto Jean, he teleported them directly to the ground, he kept his eyes on hers,  "fight her, sister," he said directly to her.

            Rogue kept her eyes on Kurt, at the same time remembering the last time they fought together, and unhappily remembered that very morning when they'd fought, she held onto his hand, feeling Miss Marvel's memories beginning to quickly fade from her own, but from sheer exhaustion, and possibly from the lack of air she'd had, lost consciousness.

            Kurt, seeing the opportunity to get the three of them to the ground, teleported them there, they landed with a thud hard on the grass, and Kitty fell to her knees beside Rogue, "is she alright?"

            "She's unconscious, but…her psyche is dormant…for now," Jean said, "she nearly died…" 

            Kurt pulled Rogue up and held her, remembering that time a month ago when he'd held her, worried that she would die.

            Just in time, Logan and Professor Xavier arrived in the van.


	6. Chapter 6: Caving In

Chapter 6: Caving In

            Kurt, Kitty and Jean were near the hospital wing of the Mansion, sitting patiently waiting for results on Rogue's condition.  Seemed she hadn't even been out of there for long and was already back in.

            Kurt, once again feeling frantic.  He wished Rogue had listened him when she'd had the chance, if they'd been able to confront Professor Xavier when she'd shown the first signs of Miss Marvel being present in her, they could have avoided the situation. 

            Logan came around a corner, a grim expression on his face, "well," he leaned back against the wall, folding his arms casually, "I've been on the phone to your School, it doesn't look too good, Kids."

            "What's going to happen to us?" Jean asked worriedly.

            "You've all been expelled," Logan sighed.

            "Expelled?!" Kitty gaped.

            "Rogue destroyed a school wall, and a light post, a locker door – not to mention the tiled floor that was underneath the locker door she was pounding at is all cracked to hell.  You guys missed two periods and this isn't the first time you've skipped periods to do something – related to the cause or not."

            "What are we going to do?" Kitty asked, she could feel tears piercing her eyes, she could not believe she'd been expelled from Bayville high, she'd loved being there, she'd always felt – despite her mutant powers – that she fit in there.  She paced the floor worriedly.

            "Look, don't worry, we'll figure something out," Logan assured.  "We've gotten out of worse scrapes," He reminded, stood to attention and slung his arm around Kitty, and half hugged her, "so dry your tears, Pint size."

            Kitty wiped her tears on the back of her hand, "sorry."

            "It affects all of us, that's for sure," Logan admitted, "but we'll make the best of it, we have to, what else can we do."

            "Can't the Professor just make all the people at school forget what we did?" Kurt asked.

            "What Rogue did…" Kitty pointed out.

            "We're in this together, we'll take responsibility together," Kurt stated.

            "We only skipped two periods," Kitty reminded.  "Rogue's the only one guilty of criminal damage."

            "Hush now," Logan flicked Kitty's ear to make her stop making accusations.  "And no, the Professor can't make everyone forget.  We can't keep relying on his powers to solve every little problem," he explained.

            "This isn't a 'little' problem though, Logan, this is a BIG problem," Kitty frowned.

            Jean shook her head, "No, Logan is right, if this is how things have to be, then this is how they have to be, we'll figure out something, just like he said.  

            "It hardly affects you though," Kitty pointed out, "you and Scott are like, not long away from Graduation or something, me, Kurt and Rogue have another three years of education to go…Bayville is like the nearest School to us, everywhere else is like too far a distance to get to easily each day."

            "Stop fretting," Logan patted Kitty's shoulder, "Like I said, we'll figure something out."

            They were surprised to see Rogue walking down the hallway heading from the direction of the hospital wing, "hi…" she said in an insecure way, her voice tiny.

            "Rogue!" Kurt jumped to his feet and rushed over excitedly, hugging her, "you're alright!"

            "Yeah…Rogue hugged him back weakly for a moment, before bashfully pushing him away, "No month long coma this time," she added meekly.  "I'm sorry I put you all through this," she looked at everyone.

            "Kid, don't worry about it," Logan said.

            Kitty looked at Rogue, "we're all expelled…" she sighed.

            Rogue chewed her lip, "my fault?"

            Kitty looked as if she was about to answer yes, but a look from Kurt advised her to use another approach, "all our faults."

            "So…what about Miss Marvel?" Kurt asked, "is she still in your head?" he asked.

            Rogue sighed, she sat down on the bench in the hallway, next to Jean,   Professor Xavier wheeled down the hallway and over to them, "Miss Marvel will always be there," He sighed, "she and Rogue are sharing the same mind now."

            Rogue looked down to the floor.

            "Does she pose a threat?" Jean asked.

            "At the moment, no, I have locked her away in Rogue's mind in a way that is almost like a repressed memory," Professor Xavier explained, "however, one day, and this is a definite warning, it may be triggered at any time and unlock itself and let out Miss Marvel once again.  But that may be a long time away from occurring."

            "So is there no way to remove Miss Marvel?" Jean asked in concern.

            "Unfortunately not, Jean," Professor Xavier sighed, feeling as if he'd failed Rogue.

            "Me and Miss Marvel are connected totally, memories kinda overlapping," Rogue stated, she'd already had this explained to her by the Professor.

            "To try and attempt to remove the presence of Miss Marvel would be like trying to separate Siamese twins who share one heart – one may die, both even possibly.  No guarantee of which one will survive…"  
            "So if you try to remove Miss Marvel, you might end up removing Rogue and losing her?"

            "Yes," Professor Xavier responded.

            "Professor, not to change the subject or anything, I know Rogue's been through a terrible ordeal and stuff," Kitty began, "But what are we all gonna do now, Logan just told us we have all been expelled…"

            Rogue gaped, "we're expelled?!"

            Logan looked to Professor Xavier, "it's true.  As of effect immediately.  Even the mutants who weren't involved in that ordeal."

            "I feared this might happen some day.  But all is not lost.  We shall manage to somehow educate you all, even if we have to do it ourselves," Professor Xavier, "But don't concern yourself at the moment.  Let me, Logan and Hank discuss the situation, you concern yourselves only with continuing to study whatever you were studying at school in the meantime until we come up with a solution."

            Kitty continued to drill Professor Xavier with various questions, Rogue stood up and wandered off intending to go upstairs.  Kurt followed her.

            "Rogue?" he asked, he caught up with her in the grand hall.

            Rogue stopped at the bottom of the stairs, "I know what you want to say, Kurt, that I should have listened to you from the beginning and I could have avoided this mess – that because of my own stupidity I cost the School thousands of dollars worth of damage, and got everyone expelled," she sighed, "My whole world is caving in around me, my life will never be the same, the last thing I need to hear is that I was wrong, Kurt…" 

            Kurt sighed, "No, that's not what I wanted to say at all…" he assured.

            Rogue looked over her shoulder at him, "then what?" 

            "I uhm…I just wanted to say that no matter what happens, we're all going to stand by you and that even if Miss Marvel does try to show her ugly head again…we'll be here, and we'll fight for you, no matter what…" Kurt explained softly.

            "She'll never be gone, Kurt," Rogue sighed, she sat on the stairs, and hugged her legs insecurely.  Kurt walked closer, standing opposite her.

            "But right now she's just a repressed memory."

            "That can rear it's ugly head at any time," Rogue reminded.

            "But right now it isn't here, and you can't spend the rest of your life worrying when Miss Marvel is gonna try and take over again, there are more important things to worry about..." Kurt stated.

            "Like?" Rogue raised an eyebrow.

            "Studying for School…" Kurt began

            "Which we're all expelled from," Rogue chimed in.

            "Focusing on the good things in life," Kurt added.

            "What good things?" Rogue asked of him, "remind me of the good things in my life…"

            Kurt sighed and sat beside her on the stairs, "okay," he paused, "you have a roof over your head, clothes on your back, and food in your belly, you have your health, and that's a lot more than some people in the world have," he looked at her.  

            "But what about the bad things, like my power, I can't touch anyone…" Rogue looked at her hands absently.

            "So what?  Rogue, you don't need to touch someone physically to show affection, and even when you do, a thin layer of cloth can help you achieve that…" Kurt looked at her, "You keep dwelling too much on what you can't do, Rogue…" he looked at her.  "What about the things you can do?" he tried to lift her spirits a little, he saw the vague look on her face.

            "Y'know…" Rogue stared into space distantly, "when I was up there, in the sky, with her in my head, I saw her memories like they were my own…and there was this one memory…it was so beautiful Kurt…" she brought her arms around herself and hugged herself insecurely.  "I would have killed to have been her, I would have killed to have had that memory as my own…"

            "What was it?"

            "Miss Marvel…Carol…Carol is her name…" Rogue stuttered, "She…there was this time, she stood on a moonlit beach with her feet in the ocean, kissing this…really good looking boy, god he looked so familiar…I can't place him…but when I saw that memory, I could feel his lips on mines…his arms around me, his fingers on my bare back, it made me shiver.  I could FEEL it…" Rogue looked to the floor, "and it occurs to me that I'm never going to be that way with a guy…my powers can't be contained.  I'll never get to feel like she did with that guy, Kurt.  I'll never be able to kiss a guy without ending up with more people in my head."

            Kurt looked at her, "you don't kneed to kiss someone to show them you care, Rogue," Kurt looked at her, "me and Amanda rarely kiss, we don't always even hold hands, we talk a lot, we tell each other things, we confide in each other…" he looked at her.  "It isn't all about kissing and holding hands."

            Rogue sighed, "but still…I'm so jealous of those who…those who can kiss and holds hands," she looked at him.

            "Right now, it's not an issue…you don't have to worry about it yet," Kurt looked at her.

"How can I not worry," Rogue felt tears trying to escape, she blinked them away, "I spend every moment of my day worrying that one of you is going to end up like the others I've touched – unconscious, or like Carol…braindead…" she looked at him.  "Sometimes it's…its just easier to distance myself so that no one else gets hurt.  It's not 'cause I'm being a bitch who doesn't want to know y'all, Kurt," Rogue looked at him, "I…I do care, its just…its so hard…I don't want to have to live with myself for the rest of my life if I seriously hurt one of you…you're the only real friends I've had…"

"You can't spend your entire life isolating yourself," Kurt sighed, he put his hand on her gloved hand and gripped it tightly, "there are precautions that can be taken," Kurt reminded.

"But still…"

"Rogue, right now, stop worrying about it so much…" he looked at her, "Some day it may be curable Rogue, in the meantime I'd worry about your other powers…"

            "My other powers?" Rogue asked, having forgotten already.

            "You can fly, Rogue…and you have the strength of superman – I'd kill for those kind of powers," Kurt admitted, "I'm jealous of you…"

            Rogue looked at him, "you are?" she asked.

            "Seriously," Kurt stated, "you're lucky…"

            "Yeah…lucky…" Rogue said distantly, not convinced.  "Remind me what else is good in my life, Kurt…" she looked at him.

            Kurt smiled a little, "You have every Black Sabbath album ever made, you have a huge collection of horror movies, you have friends who love you and will do anything for you, and…you have a brother who loves you, and is always going to be there for you no matter what…"

            Rogue looked at him, "thanks bro," she murmured softly, and then stood up, she headed upstairs.

            "You called me Bro!" Kurt stood up, shocked and yet, pleased at the same time.

            "Yeah, well uhm," Rogue gained an embarrassed expression, "don't tell anyone, and uhm, don't expect to hear it again," she said, and gave a wink, and headed upstairs, and when she was out of sight, she smiled to herself smugly, with the knowledge that all was well in her life – for now.

The End


End file.
